Tomato plants will still be heavy with fruit in September, but if tomatoes still seem small and green, then there is a simple way to speed up their ripening and even make them bigger. Katie Krejci, the founder of The Homesteading RD, has shared that topping tomatoes, which means cutting off the top part of the stem, is the best way to ensure tomatoes grow properly.
She said: “Hear me out! Topping your tomato plants might be one of the best things that you do for it all season if you want to make the most of your harvest and preserve the health of your plants.” It is incredibly important to top tomatoes in September as the weather is quickly becoming colder, and there is a limited time before the frost appears which will kill the fruit.
There are just a few weeks left to prune tomatoes and help them ripen. In the UK, the first frost usually comes in October but it has been known to come as early as late September.
Removing the top of a tomato plant sends a signal for it to stop growing taller or producing new fruit, and instead concentrate its energy on ripening the tomatoes already on the vine.
As a result, the remaining tomatoes will grow larger and develop more concentrated sugars, making the final harvest sweeter and more flavourful.
Having a tall tomato plant as this time of year can actually damage it, as it is very easy for the stem to break and any decaying foliage can encourage blight or other diseases to make their way into your garden.
Topping is easy and should only takes 10 minutes at most, but is the best way to ensure you get the best harvest possible before you say goodbye to your summer garden for the rest of the year.
How to top tomato plants
To begin, you will need to make sure your pruning shears are sharp and have been cleaned with rubbing alcohol.
Make sure you clean your shears after each cut as tomato plants are very vulnerable to disease in September. Wiping down your shears stops infection from spreading.
Next, take a good look at your tomato plant. You need to locate the central stem and then find the highest set of fruit that you want to keep growing.
Try to look for fruit that are big and green, or about to turn red, as these will ripen in time. Small or hard tomatoes are not worth saving, as they are unlikely to grow before the first frost.
Once you have found the fruit you want to save, then cut the main stem a little stem, so there is still foliage to protect the fruit.
It helps for there to still be a few leaves above the fruit to protect your harvest from sunscald, which is when the fruit become damaged because of too much sun exposure.
Then, remove any flowers or tiny hard tomatoes, as these will simply weaken the plant and cost it too much energy.
Topping only takes a few minutes and should be fairly simple. Removing the top part of a tomato plant will ensure your last harvest is filled with big, tender and ruby-red tomatoes about to fall off the vine.